By Cody Brunner

If Airial Salvo were a quarterback, her average stat-line might look something like this: 33-for-35 for 400 yards and five touchdowns.

Those numbers are impressive, huh? Well, that word explains Salvo pretty well, since as a sophomore, she’s already one of the top players on the 2006 U volleyball team.

Her crushing kills and stingy defense have earned her quite a reputation at the collegiate level. This kind of attention is flattering to Salvo, but she is no stranger to it. She led the Viewmont Vikings to two consecutive 5A state championships and garnered state MVP honors for both seasons (and was all-state sophomore year as well). She won three consecutive region MVP awards and was the Gatorade Player of the Year her junior and senior seasons. She also recorded 526 kills, 69 aces and 156 digs in her senior year, becoming a top-10 recruit and one of the most sought-after athletes in the country.

And that’s just high school.

Salvo is now in her second season at the U and has already caused considerable damage to her opponents’ collective ego.

Last year, as a freshman, Salvo was named Mountain West Conference and AVCA West Region Freshman of the Year. She also made the All-MWC and All-Tournament teams for the Utes a year ago.

So, where does Salvo get all this volleyball talent?

The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree this time. Airial’s mother Lori also played for the Utes-30 years ago. Lori Salvo is currently the head volleyball coach at Viewmont High and, you guessed it, she was her daughter’s coach during high school.

“Having the opportunity to see her grow up as a person and as an athlete was pretty special for me,” Lori Salvo said.” She was so good to all of the other kids, it made it easy for us to coach her.”

Airial Salvo was equally thrilled with the chance to learn to play volleyball from her mother.

“My mother treated me just like any other player. I’m really glad she was my coach-I learned a lot from her,” Airial Salvo said.

Airial Salvo started on the road to volleyball glory early in her life, quickly becoming a Farmington icon.

“She would come home baffled because kids wanted her autograph,” Lori Salvo said.

If Airial Salvo keeps up her play, she’d better get used to the attention. She is quickly becoming one of the nation’s best outside hitters and gives the Utes plenty of promise for the present, as well as the future.

Last summer, she got the chance to hone her skills with some of the best volleyball players in the country when she was selected for the 2006 USA Women’s National Volleyball A2 team.

Making the Olympics has always been one of Airial Salvo’s main focuses and her experiences over the summer could be a great stepping stone towards acquiring that goal.

“She’s got her focus, she’s got her goals and she’s not going to let anything get in the way of that,” mother Lori Salvo said.

In the Women’s Open Division of the USA Volleyball Championships this summer, Airial Salvo came away with all-tournament honors.

With all of the accolades and accomplishments Airial Salvo has achieved thus far in her career, you would think she has hit her ceiling. But?

“She’s got such a high volleyball IQ. I don’t think she’s even close to obtaining her potential yet,” U head coach Beth Launiere said.

On the team, Airial Salvo is looked at as a quiet competitor, the kind of person who will always gets the job done.

“She just brings consistency to the team,” sophomore setter Shannon Krug said. “You always know she will be there. I always know when I set it to her, she’s going to kill it or make the other team work really hard.”

Ever since she first picked up a volleyball in seventh grade, Airial Salvo has been racking up kills. But after all these years, she still considers the game an escape.

“Volleyball is like my vacation away from everything?my way out,” Airial Salvo said.

And if she continues to dominate, there will be plenty more blue skies and tropical sunsets ahead of her and the Utes.

Lennie Mahler

Ute sophomore Airial Salvo goes up for a kill during practice last week. Salvo is on the verge of being one of the top offensive players in the Mountain West Conference.